From the dawn of human consciousness, people have asked one enduring question: Why does anything exist at all?
Why is there a universe instead of nothing? Why do human beings, stars, time, and matter exist when they just as easily might not have?
Across religious traditions, this question has never been ignored. One of the most powerful answers offered by faith is rooted in the idea of contingency—the understanding that everything in the world depends on something beyond itself, and that this chain of dependence ultimately leads to God.
This is not blind belief. It is faith illuminated by reason.
Understanding Contingency in Simple Terms
A thing is called contingent if it exists but does not have to exist. It depends on something else for its existence.
Human beings are contingent—we depend on parents, air, food, and time.
Nature is contingent—trees depend on soil and sunlight, planets depend on cosmic laws.
Even the universe itself, according to modern science, had a beginning and is therefore dependent.
If everything we observe is contingent, the question naturally arises:
What sustains existence itself?
Faith traditions answer this by pointing to a reality that is not contingent, a reality that exists by its own nature—the Necessary Being.
The Islamic Perspective: Allah, the Self-Subsisting
In Islam, the principle of contingency is woven deeply into the doctrine of Tawhid (Divine Oneness).
The Qur’an declares:
“Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining (Al-Qayyum).” (Qur’an 2:255)
Everything other than Allah is created (makhluq). Creation exists, but it does not exist by itself. It depends—moment by moment—on Allah’s will.
Allah alone is Al-Qayyum, the One who sustains all existence without being sustained by anything.
The Qur’an makes this distinction clear:
“He neither begets nor is born.” (Qur’an 112:3)
This verse affirms that Allah is not contingent. He does not come into being, nor can He cease to be. All contingent realities—time, matter, life, and death—stand in need of Him.
From an Islamic viewpoint, the universe cannot explain itself. A dependent world requires an independent source. Allah is described as Al-Awwal (The First) and Al-Akhir (The Last), the necessary foundation upon which all existence rests.
The Christian Perspective: God as “I AM”
Christian theology expresses contingency through a deeply relational yet philosophically profound understanding of God.
The Bible teaches that creation does not stand on its own:
“For in Him all things were created… and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:16–17)
Creation exists because God continuously wills it to exist.
When Moses asks God for His name, the reply is striking:
“I AM WHO I AM.” (Exodus 3:14)
This declaration reveals God not as a being among other beings, but as being itself. God does not say, “I came to be” or “I was caused.” He simply is.
Christian philosophers such as Thomas Aquinas explained this by distinguishing between:
- Contingent beings, which receive existence
- God, who is existence itself
The universe changes, decays, and depends. God does not. Without God, nothing could exist or continue for even a moment. Creation’s fragility points beyond itself to an eternal, sustaining Creator.
Thus, in Christianity, contingency leads not only to belief in God, but to trust in God as the constant upholder of life.
The Hindu Perspective: Brahman, the Ultimate Reality
Hindu philosophy approaches contingency with exceptional metaphysical depth.
The world of names and forms is understood as impermanent and dependent—subject to birth, change, and dissolution. This makes it contingent.
The Upanishads teach that behind this changing world lies Brahman—the eternal, self-existent reality.
“That from which all beings are born, by which they live, and into which they return—that is Brahman.”
Brahman does not depend on the universe. Rather, the universe depends on Brahman. Forms arise and pass away, but Brahman remains unchanged.
In Hindu thought, recognizing contingency is not merely philosophical—it is spiritual. When a seeker realizes that the self and the world are dependent realities, attention turns toward the unchanging foundation of all existence.
This realization leads toward moksha, liberation through truth.
A Shared Insight Across Faiths
Despite theological differences, Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism converge on a fundamental insight:
- The world is dependent.
- Ultimate reality is independent.
- Existence cannot explain itself.
- There must be a necessary foundation of all being.
Whether named Allah, God, or Brahman, this reality is eternal, self-subsisting, and the source of everything that exists.
Different traditions, different languages—but the same underlying truth.
Faith and Reason in Harmony
Contingency does not weaken faith—it strengthens it.
Faith affirms that God exists.
Contingency explains why belief in God is reasonable.
It shows that belief in a necessary, eternal source of existence is not superstition, but a rational response to the fact that everything we observe is fragile, dependent, and temporary.
Science may explain how the universe functions, but contingency asks a deeper question: Why is there something rather than nothing?
Faith answers where science is silent.
God as the Ground of All Existence
Every human life, every star, every moment of time exists in a state of dependence. Nothing stands on its own.
Contingency reminds us that behind this dependent universe must stand a reality that does not depend—a reality that simply is.
Faith names this reality.
Reason points toward it.
Worship responds to it.
And that is why, across civilizations and centuries, humanity continues to believe in God—not out of fear, but out of understanding.
